Pros

Cons

No Dolby Vision HDR support.
Voice search is much more limited than on other media streamers.

Bottom Line

The Roku Streaming Stick+ is a tiny, inexpensive media streamer that can put 4K and HDR10 content on your TV.

Oct. 11, 2017

The Roku Streaming Stick has been an economical, powerful way to access streaming media on your TV without spending a hundred dollars or dealing with boxes and trailing wires around your home entertainment center. Now it's gotten a 4K upgrade in the form of the Streaming Stick+. This new media streamer supports 4K video and HDR10 in a tiny $69.99 package. It's an impressive little device that lets you use the slew of apps and services available on the Roku platform. Its lack of Dolby Vision support is slightly limiting, however, and the voice search feature is underwhelming compared with offerings from Amazon and Apple.

Design

The Streaming Stick+ is the sleekest Roku stick yet. It's a glossy black plastic tube measuring 3.4 by 0.8 by 0.5 inches (HWD), with a male HDMI connector on one end. The last inch of the stick is covered in matte black plastic and holds the single indicator LED, a reset button, and a mini USB port.

The svelte design of the Streaming Stick+ is partly due to the new wireless system. Roku moved the Wi-Fi antenna array to the power cable, a 14-inch wire with a prominent 3.3-inch bar built into the middle of its length. According to Roku, the new in-line antenna quadruples the wireless range of the Streaming Stick+ over the regular model. Since 14 inches is very short for a power cable, and you still need to connect the stick to a powered USB port, Roku includes a 42-inch extender cable and a USB wall adapter.

The included remote differs very little from the remote that came with last year's Streaming Stick. It's a 5.6-inch matte black plastic wand with curved sides, distinguished by a prominent purple direction pad near the top and a purple fabric tag with the Roku logo on the bottom end. A microphone button under the direction pad activates voice search using the pinhole microphone near the top. Playback controls sit under the microphone and menu buttons, with four dedicated service buttons for Hulu, Netflix, PlayStation Vue, and Sling TV below them. A volume rocker sits on the right edge.

As of the current wave of Roku media streamers, you can now control your TV's power and volume directly through the remote. The connected media streamer (in this case, the Streaming Stick+) detects the connected TV over HDMI and instructs the remote to use the appropriate infrared commands to trigger the TV's volume adjustments and to toggle its power. It's a handy little extra that means you don't have to reach for your TV remote when you want to adjust the volume.

We're big fans of the private listening feature on Roku media streamers, which lets you listen to whatever you're watching through headphones instead of the TV speakers. While the new remote has some useful functions, it lacks the headphone jack found on the Roku Ultra and Roku Premiere+ remotes for direct private listening. Fortunately, you can use the Roku app to enable private listening through your smartphone or tablet, so an option is still there.

The Roku app lets you control the Streaming Stick+ with your mobile device. Besides private listening, you can use voice search and enter text through the app. It also enables screen mirroring and local media playback with the Play on Roku Feature, though these functions aren't quite as streamlined or convenient as using Google Cast with a Chromecast.

Roku Channel Store

Roku's library of apps and services (called Channels) is extensive. You'll find all the big names present except for Apple, with Amazon, Crunchyroll, Google Play, Hulu, Netflix, Sling, Twitch, Vudu, and YouTube readily available. There are also plenty of music choices, including Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Spotify, SiriusXM, and TuneIn. For more granular content, the Roku Channel Store features hundreds of different apps focused on regional and special-interest content covering science, religion, health, childrens' entertainment, and dozens of local and national news and sports channels. It's one of the most comprehensive selections available among media streamers.

While the Roku Streaming Stick+ provides plenty of content, it lags behind the Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV in terms of smart features. The microphone built into the remote lets you search for your favorite content and open different apps, but that's about it. Don't expect the extensive information and automation features of Amazon's Alexa or Apple's Siri (or of Google Assistant, which was recently added to the Nvidia Shield TV). You can't even ask the Streaming Stick+ for the weather forecast (though it will suggest a variety of Roku channels to install, to let you manually look up the weather). The limited voice search capabilities also mean any smart home integration is out of the question.

4K and HDR

The Streaming Stick+ supports ultra high-definition (4K) and high dynamic range (HDR) content. The 4K side is pretty universally covered, with most major streaming services with 4K content already offering 4K-enabled Roku apps. This means you can watch UHD movies and shows on Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, and Vudu without issue. Unfortunately, Google Play hasn't yet been updated to support 4K streaming on Roku devices.

HDR is a slightly different story. Roku currently supports the HDR10 standard but not Dolby Vision. Many streaming services, like Netflix, work with both formats for the widest compatibility. Some, however, only offer Dolby Vision HDR video, which is the case with Vudu. You can watch Mad Max: Fury Road over Vudu in 4K with no problem, but the lack of Dolby Vision support means you can't watch it in HDR.

The Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV 4K, and Google Chromecast Ultra all support HDR in both HDR10 and Dolby Vision, so Roku lagging behind on this front is disappointing. That said, Dolby Vision requires not only the media streamer to support the format, but the TV itself. If your screen doesn't support Dolby Vision, the lack of it on the Streaming Stick+ is moot. And if your TV does support Dolby Vision, it very likely has apps that support the format built into its interface. It just means you'll have to stop using the Streaming Stick+ and work with your TV's built-in connected platform to stream that specific content.

Streaming Performance

We've generally recommended using a wired Ethernet connection when streaming 4K content, especially if it's 4K HDR content. A cable can typically provide a faster and more stable connection than Wi-Fi, and you need as much bandwidth as possible to stream 4K HDR movies. That isn't an option with the Streaming Stick+, which lacks an Ethernet connection. Fortunately, Roku makes good on its promises of improved Wi-Fi.

In addition to Mad Max on Vudu, I watched Daredevil on Netflix, and The Man in the High Castle and The Tick on Amazon. In all cases, the video started playing in seconds. Amazon and Vudu both jumped immediately to playing the 4K video, while Netflix typically lagged a bit in recognizing the network environment and stepping up playback quality accordingly (an issue we've seen with Netflix in general, not just on the Streaming Stick+).

Besides video playback, the Streaming Stick+ is very responsive in general. Menu navigation is snappy, and it takes only a few seconds to switch between different apps.

Conclusions

The Roku Streaming Stick+ is an impressive little media streamer. For just $70, it offers access to loads of 4K streaming content, with support for HDR10 where it's available. Considering the extensive selection of apps and services Roku offers, this makes the Streaming Stick+ a very capable media hub. It also signals that the distinction between "box" and "stick" no longer matters much; the Streaming Stick+ is tiny and plugs right into the back of your TV, but it's also full-featured and very powerful, whereas previous media streaming sticks have been scaled-down, 1080p versions of larger boxes.

If you simply want an inexpensive, powerful media streamer for watching and listening to your favorite content, the Streaming Stick+ is an excellent, economical choice. The lack of Dolby Vision support limits the Stick's HDR streaming capabilities on some services, however, and while Roku's voice search feature is handy, it can't hold a candle to the voice assistants available on the Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV.

If you're hoping to turn your media hub into an effective smart home hub with a voice assistant, the Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV 4K are better bets. The Amazon Fire TV stood out as our Editors' Choice when we reviewed it, and while that version is no longer available, Amazon is rolling out a new model later this month for $69.99. The Google Chromecast Ultra is another excellent choice for streaming 4K content to your TV for less than $100. It eschews any sort of physical remote or on-screen interface for the Google Cast platform, relying on your smartphone or tablet for all controls.

About the Author

Will Greenwald has been covering consumer technology for a decade, and has served on the editorial staffs of CNET.com, Sound & Vision, and Maximum PC. His work and analysis has been seen in GamePro, Tested.com, Geek.com, and several other publications. He currently covers consumer electronics in the PC Labs as the in-house home entertainment expert, reviewing TVs, media hubs, speakers, headphones, and gaming accessories. Will is also an ISF Level II-certified TV calibrator, which ensures the thoroughness and accuracy of all PCMag TV reviews. See Full Bio